I ask because Ric`zix Xichiz has a Commerce thread where he is compiling a list of deceased players and wants to see the ears as proof of death. I checked faction inventory and we have some Trophy ears, but I'm not sure if they are authentic. They all say 'Trophy of ....' and when I try to rename them I get the message "You can not rename this item".

The very reason I asked that they say "Trophy of", was that it is unlikely (when it was available) that "legit" trophies were renamed with "Trophy of" as a name.

There may be some that slip through the crack, but for the most part I think most are the real deal. (Although there were a few obvious fakes, Like "Trophy of 01").

Edit: I tested the "mouseover" on a fake ear (there were 2 entries for the same guy), and the mouseover just has "Trophy "name of item"" (which in most cases it will say "Trophy Trophy of "). So it just adds "Trophy" in front of the name of the ear, so it doesn't give the original name.

Tenile went to a black hole which leaves no corpse to take ear from, and Beauba Fettt had a handle change, as far as I know he ain't dead but if he was, it would have the new handle name. So at least those two are fakes I'd think.

“ when I hover over the image I get, e.g. "Trophy Trophy of Teniel Djo" --- is this what you see on ears that are not fakes?”

Legit trophies do read "Trophy Trophy of NAME" on mouseover, yes. The first Trophy is for the item type (it's a trophy), and the second is the name of the item. Someone must've just renamed those back when it was still possible.

So, for Trophies before a certain time (when ability to change name was removed) it is not possible to tell if the Trophy could be a fake (unless you know something about the character)? And even then, if a character was dead and two Trophies with same name popped up it may not be possible to tell which was the 'real' Trophy....?

I knew of this issue when I started the list. Having a trophy that was renamed to be realistic is the biggest problem I have (aside from me thinking that NPCs were dropping ears at one point in time, either due to a feature or a bug). And those ears are examples are the most extreme cases of fake trophies.

Most of those I would have hesitated to enter, but when it comes to less famous characters, I cant make a guarantee those aren't fake either. I need to depend on others to point out the fakes, because a lot of history occurred before my time here. It certainly isn't foolproof, but given the options available, it seems to be the only way.

The ones for Teniel and Keir are definitely fakes.
BTW, Blackholes do leave corpses on capships. I had Teniel's corpse on the GnM for months before it was finally deleted. I decided not to take a trophy, so there is no Teniel ear.

Keir's ship was deleted from the database during Red Scenarios, thus no way to have a trophy.

While we are on this there is one on the market that is Trophy of Jormungund Gand, yet I would think the passing of someone infamous might have bit more fanfare which makes me think its a fake to but maybe its real dunno.

I agree with most that Teniel, Keir, Kirov and Veynom are all definitely fakes.